New Deputy Minister Of Transport Says He Loves Drones, Hope That Means They Will Fly Legally Soon

On Friday the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda announced members of President Mnangagwa’s new cabinet together with the deputies. Advocate Fortune Chasi was part of that list. He is Zimbabwe’s new Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development.

That same night the new deputy minister took to Twitter and expressed his readiness to serve and to engage with the citizenry. He even promised that he won’t run away from Twitter (as some do when the heat is turned up). The first response to the tweet came from Simon de Swart (cool guy who’s into video content and stuff). Here’s Simon to Fortune Chasi:

A smaller issue for later on: there are quite a lot of drone pilots in Zimbabwe who would like the new drone regulations to be approved and come into force so we can fly legally and safely. The draft has been awaiting approval for more than 2 years now.

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To that Chasi declared:

I like drones! Kikiki I will follow up on this!

Simon liked the response:

Thanks! Technically all drone flights are currently illegal.

Wait, what??

Yes, most of the drone action we see is being done illegally. That’s not to say drones are illegal in Zimbabwe but that meeting the legal requirements to fly a drone in Zimbabwe is a feat. You must have a letter of approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe first. To get the letter you need to have demonstrated piloting skills and of course you need to pay a fee!

As one flies the drone they need to have a fire extinguisher close by together with a first aid kit. You need to be insured as well. All these are not suggestions, they are law. So you see, the guy who flew a drone that bore the rings at my cousin’s wedding (true story) was breaking the law- there was no fire extinguisher or first aid kit in sight.

The bigger problem is that these regulations are kind of a place holder because there is still a pending procedure for the promulgation of the regulations. So this is an enforceable law that is standing in for the gazetting of the actual law. However, as if that were not confusing enough, the pending law will be based on a draft of these same regulations.

Drones are not just a hobbyist thing

When personal computers first came on the scene they were treated as a hobbyist gadget and of course they were mostly used by geeks and even powered by a geek’s software (Bill Gates is the ultimate geek!) This made a lot of people underestimate the impact they would make. This could be the way drones are largely viewed in Zimbabwe right now and oh boy, are we underestimating the impact of drones!

Zimbabwe might have missed an opportunity

Early this year we were approached by a reputable company from the US that wanted to roll out a drone based service in a very critical sector in our country. We tried to secure a meeting with higher offices for these guys but the bureaucracy was crazy. The team came to Zimbabwe anyway but I am not sure they made much headway. What was disappointing was that these guys were coming with their own investment (several millions), all they needed was partnership with the government….

So, yeah when a new deputy minister says he loves drones I cling to those words and I hold him to that confession of love. Hokoyo Advocate Fortune Chasi, I am pushing for you to bring clarity to the issue of drones and their regulation. It may seem like a small matter for this ministry that deals with projects like dualisation of the Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway, mordenisation of vehicle registry…. I contend drones are just as important but do not require much energy and investment. Things just need to be clear and investment will find its way.

Fortune ChasiMisheck Sibanda

Fortune Chasi is a lawyer, politician, and musician. He is the current Deputy Minister of Transport & Infrastructure. In December 2017 under the Mnangagwa administration, he was appointed as the deputy for legal affairs in the Zanu-PF party. Chasi was reelected during the 2018 elections... Read More About Fortune Chasi

Misheck Sibanda is the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet. Read More About Misheck Sibanda

4 thoughts on “New Deputy Minister Of Transport Says He Loves Drones, Hope That Means They Will Fly Legally Soon”

It everywhere in the world there are regulations/laws about the flying of drones even in Canada. It’s needed & good cause remember all airspace is controlled & it makes sense for one to be able to fly that thing cause imagine a drone falling on top of ur car or ur head

I sure hope the readers are aware of the variety of drones available out there – some as small as insects others as large as aircraft. Current legislation tends to be aligned to the large drones (dumb airplane if you may) so the small hobbyist drones would not require stringent legislation IMHO.

True, regulation should be flexible enough to view all things within context.
The proposed regulations do make it less of a hustle to fly ‘toy drones’ as long as they don’t have a camera among other requirements